Lights Out • 1 • Formula One ✔️

Chapter 58

Saturday morning I felt the familiar nerves in my stomach. The dream I had last night still lingered and filled me with a sense of unease. Not only did I worry about any implications of dream-Charles, but also when I felt a sense of deja vu walking past the straight. I recognised it almost immediately as the long straight from my dream, the one where I was hit and about to crash into the wall.

The only thing that brought me out of my thoughts was the snap of fingers in front of my face from my not-so-impressed fitness coach. I had been absentmindedly pedalling on the cycling machine at a pace slower than normal which is probably why Lizzie was getting annoyed.

"What is wrong with you today?" She exclaimed, exasperated. "You're over five kilometres an hour slower than usual."

"Sorry." I apologised, resting my head against my arm. A cold shiver ran through me however I could tell that I was still hot from the heat on my forehead. My body felt awful after the little sleep I had in addition to the small breakfast since I felt to sick to eat. I could only manage a bite of my toast before wanting to throw up, but I didn't want to tell Lizzie that as I know she'd blow up.

"Yeah, you will be." Lizzie was scary when she was in full work mode. It probably didn't help that the paddock had an air of worry about everyone's future. "You're not allowed to leave until you hit forty and stay at that speed for thirty seconds."

I knew there was no point in arguing with her as she'd probably make me do it for a minute. Forty wasn't out of my ability to reach on a bike, although it was a struggle to maintain such a high speed especially when I was feeling lightheaded. I continued to pedal, working my way up to the top speeds gradually so that I don't fizzle out too fast. There was a burn in my legs, more specifically my thighs, which felt like they were going to melt off. Luckily, it didn't take me too many attempts to complete the challenge.

"You're free to leave. Your final free practice is starting in forty five minutes and Robert would kill me if he knew that I was pushing you close to that time." Lizzie dismissed, leaving me in Force India's private gym to catch my breathe.

I folded my arms against the main frame of the bike and rested my head in them. I knew I needed a few minutes to cool down before attempting to stand or else I'm almost certain I'd faint. A wave of exhaustion also hit me so I closed my eyelids momentarily. I didn't allow myself to fall asleep, but gave my body some time to rest.

"Knock, knock." Esteban's french accent called into the room. Lizzie has left the door open so when I turned to face him, I could see him leaning against the doorframe with a wide grin.

"You know, saying 'knock, knock' actually defeats the point of knocking at all." I pointed out, still resting against my arms. Esteban rolled his eyes as he entered the room.

"As you've said to me many times before." He chuckled, leaning against the bike next to mine. He then stared at me, his head slightly tilted. I had to call his name before he snapped out of it. "No offence, culloté, but you don't look very well. You're even paler than usual. Has Lizzie been pushing you hard, again?"

"Something like that." I responded, swallowing the lump in my throat. I tried to blink back the tears but Esteban saw right through it, he has known me for over a year now after all. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders after gently lifting me off of the bike and onto the ground. At first, a wave of dizziness hit so I grasped tightly to his arm until it had passed. Nothing goes by this Frenchman, though.

"Alyssa..." Esteban sighed, pulling me as close to his chest as he could. He let me just stand there and cry into his shirt. "Have you eaten anything today?" I shook my head against his chest and he sighed deeply. "Culotté, wait here while I go get you some food, okay?"